Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) into a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) can cause failure of components of the IC unless they are properly ESD protected. ESD protection is normally achieved by making circuits having special components that reside in the input/output (IO) regions of the circuit. For example, standard low-voltage ESD clamps connected to a bond pad of an 10 region can provide good protection performance. However, with respect to low-power applications, conventional ESD clamps can poses significant leakage current characteristics, especially for application having a large number of IOs.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.